Celtics-Hawks Preview

By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN
Posted Mar 18 2012 8:58PM

While the Atlanta Hawks have a lengthy injury list, the Boston Celtics need to improve as they make a long journey to continue their road trip.

The Hawks have won consecutive games by double digits while the Celtics have dropped two in a row heading into these teams' first matchup of the season Monday night.

It seems like it's anyone's guess as to who will be available for Atlanta (26-19) after four players were out for Sunday's 103-87 win at Cleveland.

Forward Marvin Williams (hip flexor), shooting guard Willie Green (hamstring) and point guard Jannero Pargo (stomach virus) were all out for the Hawks, and forward Vladimir Radmanovic missed the game with a back injury sustained in Friday's 102-88 win over Washington.

Despite being short-handed, Atlanta jumped out to a 12-point lead after one quarter Sunday. Joe Johnson finished with a game-high 28 points on 11-of-16 shooting.

"It was very important for us to get off to a good start and sustain it (because of the injuries), especially on the road," Johnson said. "I just tried to take what the defense gave me."

Johnson, a six-time All-Star at shooting guard, is playing small forward with Williams missing his third straight game. Coach Larry Drew is starting Jeff Teague and Kirk Hinrich in the backcourt along with power forward Josh Smith, and center Zaza Pachulia, with Tracy McGrady the coach's best option off the bench.

"Everything kind of happened for a reason," Johnson said. "You now have three guys that are playmakers, can handle the ball, and make things happen."

Boston (23-21) is 2-3 on an eight-game trip with the remaining games against Eastern Conference foes after the first five were against the West. The Celtics are in seventh place in the East, 2 1/2 games behind the sixth-place Hawks.

Coach Doc Rivers' team is fairly healthy, with only Jermaine O'Neal (wrist) among injured players who will eventually return this season.

The road trip, however, has taken its toll. Boston fell 120-95 at lowly Sacramento on Friday and trailed by 13 at the half of Saturday's 98-91 defeat to Denver.

The Celtics cut a 17-point deficit to two in the fourth quarter Saturday before falling.

"I told the team that they can't ease yourself into a game and then decide you want to join the war in the fourth quarter," Rivers said. "We were a different team in the fourth quarter when we played with spirit and fight."

Paul Pierce is averaging 18.8 points on 36.7 percent shooting on this trip while Rajon Rondo is averaging 12.4 assists in the five games.

Rivers attempted to find a spark Saturday by giving Marquis Daniels nearly 20 minutes for his most action since Jan. 23. Daniels had eight points.

"I like to be an energy guy if I can, I like to play good defense and make it tough for the other team, get some easy baskets," Daniels said.

Boston took two of three matchups last season against Atlanta even though Rondo missed both victories. Johnson made 6 of 30 shots for 25 total points in two meetings while Smith missed 18 of 21 shots for a total of nine points while failing to block a shot as he played in all three.

Allen, Celtics hold off Hawks 79-76

By CHARLES ODUM
Posted Mar 19 2012 11:37PM

ATLANTA (AP) Ray Allen isn't focused on the Celtics' modest seventh spot in the Eastern Conference standings or the two-game losing streak they brought to Atlanta.

The 16-year veteran guard insists he likes this Boston team - especially when it plays as it did in the fourth quarter against the Hawks.

Allen hit two 3-pointers in Boston's 13-0 run in the fourth quarter and protected the lead with two free throws in the final seconds as the Celtics held on to beat Atlanta 79-76 on Monday night.

"I love what I'm seeing from this team," Allen said, referring to the Celtics' resiliency after their offensive struggles through three quarters.

"We could have easily been beaten tonight," Allen said. "We took their hit and we counterpunched."

Kevin Garnett, who had 16 points, also applauded the Celtics' passion.

"I don't know why we look like we're running in mud these days," Garnett said. "But our fight's there, man."

The Celtics, who led 73-58 at the end of the run, had to survive the Hawks' late surge.

Joe Johnson, who had 25 points, had three late 3-pointers as the Hawks rallied. Johnson's 3 with 11.8 seconds remaining cut the lead to 77-76.

Allen, who had 19 points, made two free throws with 10.9 seconds remaining.

Jeff Teague launched an air ball on Atlanta's final possession.

"I overshot it," Teague said, adding he was closer to the basket than he thought on the 3-pointer that could have tied the game.

"We got lucky," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who said his team escaped with the win despite "a plethora of mistakes to end the game."

Allen helped the Celtics gain momentum for the final period by sinking a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the third period. He scored on a pass from Rajon Rondo, who had 10 points and 13 assists.

Paul Pierce had 13 points for Boston, which took charge with a 17-2 run, including 13 unanswered points, after a 56-56 tie in the final period.

Zaza Pachulia had 16 points and 13 rebounds for Atlanta, which now leads Boston by 1 1/2 games in the race for the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference.

"I told my guys I take my hat off to them, because they very easily could've folded the tent when we were down (15)," Hawks coach Larry Drew said. "We cut it to one. It really comes down to making plays at the end. We had opportunities ... but we just didn't make the plays at the end that we should have."

The Celtics managed only 31 points in the first half and shot only 35 percent from the field through three quarters to trail the Hawks 51-50.

Each team struggled with poor shooting in the first half. The Hawks matched a season low with 15 first-quarter points and set a low for points in a first half, but led the Celtics 33-31.

Fouls became a growing problem for Boston in the third period. Pierce and Brandon Bass drew their fourth fouls with a span of 2 minutes midway through the period.

Bass drew a flagrant-1 technical foul for knocking Pachulia to the floor with 7 minutes remaining in the third. Less than a minute later, Pachulia again was knocked to the floor again by an elbow thrown by Greg Stiemsma under the basket. No foul was called, but Pachulia was bleeding badly from a cut on the top of his head, and he had to be taken to the locker room.

Stiemsma remained in after he was called for his fourth foul with 3 minutes remaining in the period.

Pachulia, who needed stitches, returned for the start of the fourth period.

The Celtics announced before the game that forward-center Jermaine O'Neal will have surgery on his left wrist and miss the remainder of the season, adding more urgency to the team's search for inside help.

"I'm trying to get our team to understand we don't have a margin for error," Rivers said.

Hawks guard Jannero Pargo had an appendectomy Sunday night in Cleveland and is expected to miss two to four weeks.

The Hawks also were without forwards Marvin Williams (hip) and Vladimir Radmanovich (back) and guard Willie Green (hamstring).

Notes: Hawks C Jason Collins, who missed 21 games with a sprained left elbow before returning to play three minutes against Cleveland, had a more prominent role. ... There was a moment of silence before the game for former longtime Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Furman Bisher, who was 93 when he died Sunday of a massive heart attack.

Notebook: Celtics 79, Hawks 76

Posted Monday March 19, 2012 11:53PM

By Matt Winkeljohn, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Ray Allen and the Celtics rose from what seemed like three quarters of mud to score 29 points in the fourth quarter Monday after scoring just 31in the first half, and then held on for a 79-76 win in an Atlanta slogfest.

Atlanta led just 33-31 at halftime and 51-50 after three quarters as the game to that point was played largely at a pace preferred by Boston.

The Celtics had already begun their "explosion," however, by scoring the final five points of the third, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Allen.

He scored eight of his team-high 19 points in the fourth quarter, and in the sixth game of an eight-game trip that saw Boston go 2-3 out West before Monday, the Celtics scored the first five points of the final period.

When Allen and Mickael Pietrus hit treys on consecutive possessions to cap a 24-7 run, Boston led 73-58 with 4:28 left.

The Celtics then began trying to milk the clock even longer than usual and it nearly backfired.

The Hawks closed to within 77-76 on Joe Johnson's trey with 11.8 seconds to go, but Allen closed the scoring with two free throws less than a second later.

With Johnson (25 points, including four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter) open on the left side, Atlanta's Jeff Teague air-balled a 3-pointer from the right with 4.9 left to effectively end it.

The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for Atlanta and ended a two-game losing streak for the Celtics. The result wasted another solid evening Hawks center Zaza Pachulia.

He had 16 points to tie his season high and grabbed 13 rebounds, took a couple stitches on top of his head, and was thrown to the court earlier in the game when Brandon Bass was called for a flagrant foul.

But Hawks forward Josh Smith, whom Atlanta has come to depend heavily in the wake of injuries to others, had his second sub-par game in as many nights. He scored 10 points on 5-for-20 shooting.

Kevin Garnett scored 16 points with eight rebounds for Boston, which got 13 points from Paul Pierce and 10 points and 13 assists from Rajon Rondo.

QUOTABLE: "I thought this game was a grind. Calls weren't going our way . . . but we just stuck with it. You have to be mentally tough in these kinds of games, especially when you've been on the road this long."
-- Pierce, who played just 27:17 while batting foul trouble nearly all night. He had four turnovers in that time, and made just 4-of-14 shots.

THE STAT: Boston held Atlanta to eight fast-break points. That was a big win for the Celtics, and a big part of their game plan (see below).

TURNING POINT: Prior to Allen's buzzer beater at the end of the third quarter, Boston had made 2-of-10 treys. They closed the game shooting 4-for-6 including that one.

The Hawks defended the play well for a few seconds, and the Celtics appeared to be in disarray until Allen wiggled free opposite the Atlanta bench, caught a very short inbounds pass from Rondo, turned and fired. He added two more treys in the fourth.

QUOTABLE II: "They hit a few 3-pointers in a row, but we didn't give up even though they were up (15). We still fought, played good defense and tried to put ourselves in a situation to get it to overtime."
-- Pachulia.

HOT: Johnson missed his first four shots, but made 9-of-13 after that for 25 points. He made 4-of-5 from distance. Since returning from knee tendinits, he's made 63-of-118 shots (53.4 percent), including 24-of-43 3-pointers (55.8 percent) while averaging 25.6 points in seven games. . . . Pachulia had his sixth straight game with 10 or more rebounds (11.2 average).

NOT: Through three quarters Boston made just 19-of-54 shots (35.2 percent) and Atlanta made 20-of-56 (35.7 percent). . . . With starting center Al Horford (torn pectoral muscle) still out, Pachulia played 38:48 and added three steals. Unfortunately for the Hawks, when Pachulia went to the locker room to get stitches with 6:16 left in the third quarter (and Atlanta leading 47-39, head coach Larry Drew spelled him with Jason Collins. He returned to action Sunday in Cleveland after missing three weeks with a sprained left elbow, and is rusty. Had Drew gone with forward Ivan Johnson, or even Smith, Atlanta would have been a bit undersized but that might not have been such an issue because the Celtics are not often inclined to post-up and that's the type of defense which Collins is best suited to play. He was late on a few rotations that resulted in Boston scores, missed his only shot, missed all four of his free throws, and had two turnovers in 9:50 total playing time. Collins finished the third quarter; Boston pulled to within 51-50 in that time.

GOOD MOVE: After Johnson made a 3-pointer and a long jumper to pull Atlanta to withing 68-58 in the fourth quarter, Boston head coach Doc Rivers subbed Pietrus in for Pierce (who'd picked up his fifth foul one minute earlier) and Pietrus harrassed Johnson for a while to help disrupt the Hawks' offense as the Celtics went on a 13-0 run capped by the trey-trey-trey sequence mentioned above. . . . At times, many times, Boston all but abandoned the idea of going for an offensive rebound and instead retreated. The goal? Slow the Hawks' fast break. It worked. Boston had just six offensive rebounds on 45 missed shots, but the Celtics outscored Atlanta 10-8 in fastbreak points.

ROOKIE WATCH: Boston center/forward Greg Stiemsma continues to battle through a sore foot, but admirably. He clearly understands the game, and while he's not abundantly athletic, his sense of place is solid. He had four points, four blocked shots, three rebounds and a steal in 19 minutes.

NOTABLE: Each team had 17 total turnovers, but Boston did more with Atlanta's mistakes. The Celtics scored 22 points off those miscues while the Hawks scored 17. . . . Celtics center Jermaine O'Neal, who hasn't played since aggravating a wrist injury Feb. 20 against Dallas, will undergo season-ending surgery. It might be a career for the big guy. With fellow center Chris Wilcox slated to have season-ending surgery on his aorta, the Celtics are looking to sign a big man. . . . Hawks reserve guard Jannero Pargo is expected to miss two to four weeks after undergoing an appendectomy Sunday night in Cleveland. . . . Atlanta reserve guard Willie Green dressed, but did not play. He has missed 11 straight games with back and hamstring issues. . . . Hawks small forwards Marvin Williams (hip flexor) and Vladimir Radmanovic (back) did not play. . . . Every Atlanta started played at least 35:54 (Johnson). The leading minute men off the Hawks' bench were Jerry Stackhouse (four points in 15:39) and Tracy McGrady (four points in 14:25). The ages of Stackhouse, McGrady and Collins: 37, 32 and 31.

UP NEXT: For the Celtics, Thursday @ Bucks, Friday @ 76ers, Sunday vs. Wizards. For the Hawks, Wednesday vs. Cavs, Friday vs. Nets, Saturday @ Wizards.

• Celtics: O'Neal, Wilcox
• Hawks: Horford, Pargo

• Celtics: --
• Hawks: Teague

• Lead Changes: 5
• Times Tied: 10

• Arena: Philips Arena, Atlanta, GA
• Officials: #22 Bill Spooner, #35 Kane Fitzgerald, #63 Derek Richardson
• Attendance: 16412
• Duration: 2:25